Meet the Fujas Family—Pep, Claire, Zoe and Hazel
Updated 2/11/2021
It’s been almost a year since we last checked in with the Fujas Family. Like the rest of us, Pep, Claire, Zoe and Hazel are all now a year older. Unlike the rest of us, they have a professional skier father showing them around Alta every ski day. It’s not uncommon to find Pep and Claire chasing five-year-old Zoe and four-year-old Hazel around all of Alta most weekends.
Pep Fujas was born and raised in rural Oregon and turned his love of skiing into a career as a professional freeskier. Pep has called Salt Lake City and Alta Ski Area home for two decades while becoming one of the most influential skiers of his generation. After riding and designing skis with K2 Skis for nearly twenty years, Pep is now VP of Marketing and Product Design for Salt Lake City-based ski startup, WNDR Alpine. He still uses Little Cottonwood Canyon as his personal training grounds, but he spends his weekends at Alta with his family—his wife Claire, five-year-old Zoe, and four-year-old Hazel.
Claire Lukeman grew up in Ohio, a long way from the snowy mountains of Alta. Despite the lack of vertical rise and deep powder, her parents loved to take Claire and her two sisters to the local ski hill. Once the three girls were comfortable on skis, the family started making annual holiday ski trips to Alta. Claire’s dad knew of Alta from his fraternity brother from Dartmouth, Jeff Anderson, who just so happened to own Alta’s Rustler Lodge.
Year after year, the Lukeman sisters would sit in the Rustler Lodge watching the New Year’s Eve Torchlight Parade. Their eyes couldn’t help but focus on the slope where a torchlight “A” would light up—Alf’s High Rustler.
Once the youngest Lukeman sister was up to the challenge (Claire was in middle school at the time), Jeff Anderson dusted off his skis and showed the family to the top of High Boy. On Christmas day, 1999, the girls successfully skied High Boy from the top to the base of the Rustler Lodge, 1,200 vertical feet below. When they awoke the following morning and picked up their Alta lift tickers, they were shocked to see their feat memorialized on the pass for all Alta skiers to see: “Lukeman Girls Ski High Rustler - December 26, 1999”
The annual family trips to Alta ended as the girls went off to college. It wasn’t until 2013 when Claire relocated to Salt Lake City for work when Pep and Claire met and discovered their Alta connection. Fast forwards eight years and Pep, Claire, Zoe and Hazel now call Alta home. Claire Fujas appreciates the time they spend together on the slopes as a family.
"As parents, it’s so wonderful to have time to be doing something we all love and having fun together. Seeing the girls happy makes Pep and I happy."
- Claire Fujas
The youngest Fujas, Hazel, recently turned four years old and knew just what she wanted for her birthday. No, it wasn’t a new toy, stuffed animal, or a pajama party. For her fourth birthday, Hazel wanted to ski High Boy, aka Alf’s High Rustler.
Pep and Claire said ok, and they waited for conditions to line up. This past Sunday, a windy and bluebird day after a two-foot storm, was the day Hazel and Zoe had been waiting on for years (four and five years, respectably). As the wind continued to whip its way around Alta, the snow continued to smooth itself out, creating surface conditions known locally as “Buff.” Short for wind buff, this new snow texture is ideal for a run like Alf’s. One turn on the stuff and you might think the grooming cats had gotten a little adventurous overnight, deciding to groom every slope in sight. A layer of wind buff would be ideal for Zoe and Hazel to make their first descent of Alta’s most iconic run.
The Fujas Family made their way across the High Traverse to the top of Alf’s High Rustler, a place where very few, if any, four- and five-year-olds have dared to stand. They took their time making their way across some rocks and into the top of the run that Claire and her sisters had first skied over two decades ago.
Pep helped Hazel, wearing her favorite tutu, across a few steeper sections that can be intimidating to even the most experienced Alta skier. She skied the rest of the run, closely following her more-experienced five-year-old sister, Zoe. They took their time and skied to the Wildcat base area 1,200 vertical feet below.
As they rode Collins lift for another, slightly less demanding, run, Pep interviewed Zoe and Hazel about their remarkable descent of High Boy at such a young age.
Pep: How does it feel?
Hazel: Good
Zoe: Good
Pep: Were you nervous at all?
Hazel: No.
Zoe: No... It was easier than I thought.
Pep: What about you, Hazel?
Hazel: It was easier than I thought.
Mabe it was the wind buff? More likely, it was genetics. But the Fujas girls handled one of Alta's steepest lines better than most. Keep an eye out for Fujas Family next time you’re at Alta. But good luck keeping up Pep, Claire, Zoe or Hazel.
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